See the premier broadcast of Gridlock: Public Transit in SE Wisconsin this Thursday July 2nd, at 6 PM on WMVS Milwaukee Public TV. Viewing party at Transfer Pizzeria & Cafe.

The Wisconsin state budget is now at a point where it will go to a conference committee after the Senate approved their version of the budget yesterday. The conference committee will reconcile the difference between the Assembly and Senate versions, and send the budget off to Governor Doyle. Doyle will then use his line-item veto power on certain language he doesn’t like, and Wisconsin have a budget.

The Regional Transit Authority passed the Joint Finance Committee this morning at 2:17 a.m., but not in a very regional way. The Regional Transit Authority is now largely property of the Milwaukee County Board thanks to Pedro Colon and Lena Taylor’s amendment. The .5% sales tax is now a 1% sales tax, and Racine and Kenosha counties are out. The 1% Milwaukee County sales tax increase will also cover parks and EMS as well as transit, with no clear distinction on which piece gets which amount. Furthermore, 15% of the 1% sales tax will be distributed to the City of Milwaukee to use as they wish.

The Regional Transit Authority, a solution to Milwaukee’s transit woes that we’ve advocated before, is coming down to the wire in the halls of the state capitol.  For the plan to move forward it needs to be included in the state budget, and for that to happen it needs to be approved by the Joint [...]

The Milwaukee circulator streetcar is moving forward, but there is still confusion in the mind of many. We’ve covered the issue in the past, but this article attempts to bring everything together in one place, the history, the frequently asked questions, and the proposed route.

As the RTA inches closer and closer to reality in Milwaukee, what else is going on in transit elsewhere in the country?

When Governor Jim Doyle unveils his budget proposal later today, one thing that is likely to be included in it is the recommendations of the Southeastern Wisconsin RTA. While this certainly doesn’t mean the RTA is a done deal, it’s a large step forward towards fixing transit funding issues in the Milwaukee region.

The proposed Regional Transit Authority recommendations were on the agenda after being delayed at a previous meeting of the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors.  At the previous meeting a task force was created and charged with putting together a positive message from the county supporting regional transportation.
Supervisor Jursik explained that despite the task force’s work [...]

Tom Daykin did some digging and was able to uncover that the final request from Gatehouse Capital Corp. was $18 million in public money for the Palomar.

What else does $18 million buy us? Well, it would be about the salary Bucks’ star Michael Redd will earn in the 2010-2011, around the time the Palomar would have opened down the block. If you had bought one of the condos financed with $18 million in taxpayer dollars you would have been able to get a good view of Redd’s jump shot from the luxury box that the Palomar was going to buy for residents.

The Milwaukee County Board Task Force on the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Transit Authority Recommendations, chaired by Supervisor Patricia Jursik, met for the first time on Monday December 29th, 2008. Other members of the task force present at the meeting included Supervisor Chris Larson, Supervisor John Thomas (who arrived late), Thomas Kujawa (formerly of MCTS), and Lloyd Grant (attending on behalf of Ms. Anita Gulotta-Connelly). The goal of the task force is to present recommendations to the Transportation Committee, which will then be presented to the full Milwaukee County Board on February 5th, 2009.